Apparently we’ve all been playing Monopoly wrong this whole time

Monopoly is a classic board game – and the root of many a family argument. There’s always one person with their hand in the bank, and there are ruthless deals and exchanges made when one player is on their last £100 and can’t pay off their hotel charges.

However, there are some concrete rules that even the cheats abide by when playing the game. The first round is a nice little warm-up and nobody can buy any houses. When all you can afford is one house on Old Kent Road, you thank the Monopoly gods for landing on Free Parking. And the relief when your opponent lands on Mayfair and decides not to buy it! You can count on lucky rolling to get you onto the blues…

But it turns out that all these rules are actually made up. Seriously.

YouTube channel Today I Found Out explains that a lot of the rules we abide by when it comes to Monopoly have been created and passed on over the years.

One example is when a player becomes bankrupt. Usually, the player returns all their property and savings to the bank and their time is up. However, their assets are supposed to go to the player who is owed the cash to pay off their debts.

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Another made up rule is the Free Parking cash win. Whenever someone ends up in jail, pays taxes or has a specific bill to pay, the money goes in the middle of the board and whoever lands on Free Parking wins the lot. Right?

Wrong. It’s actually a non-spot, made for the player to take a break and asses their financial situation. However, because winning the Free Parking became such a thing, Hasbro ended up adding it to their optional ‘House Rules’.

Oh, and players are actually allowed to buy houses on their first jaunt around the board.

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